The Giallo Files: Juan Bosch

The Killer with a Thousand Eyes

"I've never dropped a case yet and I won't stop now."

When English Interpol agent Alistair McAndrew is murdered by a kabuki-masked assassin, his colleague, Michael Laurence (Anthony Steffen) is sent to Lisbon to identify and retrieve the body. But while in Portugal, Michael gets pulled into Alistair's case and, with help from an international team of agents, starts his own undercover investigation into the city's drug smuggling operations. As he gets closer to his friend's killer, informants and fellow agents are getting taken out by the mysterious gloved killer. Could it be the work of crime boss Costa (Eduardo Fajardo) or is someone else pulling the strings? Michael must hurry to find out before more people are murdered!

The Killer with a Thousand Eyes (not to be confused with The Man with Icy Eyes) is one of those fun gialli-poliziotteschi hybrids, combining the mysterious black-gloved killer and mystery aspects of a giallo with all the action and idiomatic themes of an Italian police procedural. And boy is this one action-packed. There's intrigue, explosions, six kung-fu fight scenes, a shootout in a dark warehouse and a couple of car chases - the last of which ends with the bad guys driving over the side of a giant suspension bridge. And it all winds up with a satisfying twist ending.

1974 was director Juan Bosch's giallo year. He's best known for his Westerns, but he released this movie and The Killer Wore Gloves within a few months of each other.
Marcello Giombini's score mixes a 1970's crime movie aesthetic with a strange electronic bebop style of synthesized bleeps.
This movie has a really high body count, but in includes six anonymous thugs, who are gunned down in the warehouse shootout in the course of four minutes.

What the Hell am I Watching?

When French agent DuVallier (Raf Baldassarre) lets Michael crash at his apartment, he makes a point of showing off an exercise device he keeps in the kitchen. I thought for sure that this would pay off later on - maybe Michael could choke an intruder with it - but it never does.

Crime boss Costa's girlfriend, Sarah is a real psycho, as evidenced by her boisterous bloodlust during a cockfight at a dinner party.

Crime movie cliché #104: the detective and the crime boss square off over a quiet but intense game of chess. Because the chess game is a metaphor for their contentious relationship.

DuVallier's murder scene takes place in the woods and as the tension builds, the birds get louder and louder - but instead of sampling actual bird sounds, they used electronic chirps and whistles, building to a weird robotic cacophony.

Fashion Moment

When we first see Michael, he's getting his hands dirty, busting up a small-time London drug ring in this cool black jacket and turtleneck.

In Lisbon he gets decked out in his Carnaby Street finest. Love this chic jacket-waistcoat-ascott combo.

But for the rest of this investigation, he wears these less flashy outfits: sport coat, chinos, and a wide tie, all in solid colors. He does have a magnificent gold belt buckle, though.

But the real fashion iconoclast of the movie turns out to be Michael's commanding officer, Albert (Antonio Pico) who climbs out of a pool in one scene wearing a tiny white banana hammock.

The Killer Wore Gloves

"Did Michael speak to you? He's in danger - why don't you believe me?"

London artist Peggy (Gillian Hills) is worried about her boyfriend Michael - he's a reporter who has been covering the Vietnam war and has been out of contact for four months. In Michael's absence, Peggy rents the upstairs loft of her apartment to a friend of a friend named John Kirk Lawford. When she receives a mysterious phone call from Michael telling her to meet him at an abandoned airplane hanger, Peggy is nearly murdered by a gloved assassin and when she returns home, she finds that her new tenant is dead, having fallen from her upper-floor balcony. Things get even stranger when another man appears at Peggy's door, claiming to be the real John Kirk Lawford. Who wants Peggy dead? Where is Michael? Which is the real John Kirk Lawford? And why is there a suitcase full of money stashed in Peggy's hamper?

The Killer Wore Gloves is trashy fun in the classic style of Death Walks at Midnight and The Case of the Bloody Iris, featuring a mix of sex, blood, suspense and a variety of creative kills. The plot, with its double-identity hook, is really ingenious and is based on the novel Juan a las Ocho, Pablo a las Diaz by Luisa Maria de Linare, unfolding at a quick pace with plenty of suspects and victims on hand to keep things interesting.

The original Spanish title of this movie is La Muerte Llama a las Diez, or The Killer Calls at Ten (though he never does). In Italy it's called Le Calde Labbra del Carnefice, which translates as The Hot Lips of the Executioner.
If Gillian Hills looks familiar, you may recognize her from A Clockwork Orange, Michaelangelo Antonioni's Blow-Up, or as Glenda Kelly on TV's Dallas.
Bruno Corrazari is no stranger to gialli, having appeared in Blade of the Ripper, Seven Bloodstained Orchids and Puzzle.
You'll notice that I did not check "Gay character" in the checkboxes above. Yes, Peggy's upstairs neighbor, Mr. Lewis (Carlos Otero), is a hypersensitive single musician who dotes on his cat, swans around his apartment and wears tight sparkly shirts, but did you see the way he leers at Peggy? Please feel free to disagree.
All the men in Peggy's life are real scumbags. Her client, Ronald (Stelio Candelli) openly offers her money for sex, the first John Lawford and Mr. Lewis leer at her, and it turns out that Michael isn't the catch he appears to be.

What the Hell am I Watching?

The one animal killed is the rabbit that the landlord caught and skinned. Where, one might ask, does someone catch a rabbit in the heart of Europe's largest city?

I suppose the craziest thing about this movie is that at every single opportunity, Peggy refuses to tell anyone what's going on in her life and seek help, and it's never clear why. She's lured to the hangar and shot at and never tells anyone about it. The police ask about the dead man who fell from her balcony and she denies meeting him. She starts into a police station but chickens out on the front steps. Why? What's keeping her from getting the authorities involved?

Fashion Moment

When we first meet Peggy, she's running around town this two-piece leather maxi dress. Even with the decorative venting, it must be incredibly hot to wear.

Later, she shows up in this hilarious Sonny Bono-style jacket with fluffy wool vest and gauntlets.

Here's Peggy's apartment in all its eclectic glory. It's a fun mix of modern and vintage pieces and I like the colors. I think that giant egg cup is some sort of table lamp.

Finally, this is what passes as appropriate office attire in 1974: